About Literary Festivals

A note by Jaina Sanga

If one had the time and money, wouldn’t it be grand to go around the world attending literary festivals? A cursory search of “literary festivals” brings up dozens of them. Several major cities and even some out of the way places (the Faroe Islands, for instance) host annual events gathering authors and readers. 

Last month, I attended a literary festival in Denmark. The event was held at the Louisiana Museum in Humlebaek, about thirty minutes north of Copenhagen, on the Straits of the Baltic Sea. Needless to say, the venue is stunning. And, what an incredible line-up of authors! From recent Booker winner Samantha Harvey, to Chimananda Nagozi Adichie, Sally Rooney, Richard Flanagan, Elif Shafak, and Kamel Daoud, to several Danish writers. It was four days of non-stop excitement. 

I returned to Dallas inspired and energized, and more determined than ever to put our city on the international literary map.